Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-11-06


into bondage the wives and children Of
the slain
But this foul deed does not pass I'M
avenged. Only few days later an aged
Saxon villager. looking timidly down
from the summit Of Leith Hill just after
daybrcak on a clear, bright Sabbath
morning. TO watch the destroying march
Of the Danish invaders, sees another host
Of armed men coming swiftly up from
The south, and mutters feryent thanks
10 God as lac recognizes the armor
and standards of his countrvmen.
u is the army o. brave King Ethel
wolf, the second monarch of the
Saxon Hcptarchy, who, having learned
that the . heathen wolves are plumber
ing and Staying his people, is hurlying
TO the rescue with every man whom he
can muster.
On the smooth green meadows Of
Oak Lea (which has bequcathed its name
TO the little railway station Of Ocklcy
that now stands in the centre of the bat
tle-fcld) the two armies come face to
face. Little preparation suilices when
both sides are thirsting for battle. The
crash Of the rcnding spears as the OPP
posing masses meet in the shock Of
haEd-to.haud fight Is plainly heard by
the lonely watcher far away on the hill
top For moment whirwind of dust
hides all, and then the sickles of those
fierce Keepers are seen flashing and fall
ing amid the cloud. redder and redder
at every stroke. 70 and fro surge the
living waves Of steel, now ebbing north
ward and now flowing southwark, while
fine life-blood of many brave man pays
for every foot of ground won or lost
The raven fac of the Dane hovers over
that sea Of blood as il filled with horrid
life. and the white horse on tho Saxon
standard seems 70 paw the field of car
mage as when Prince HenSist rode him
through the breaking ranks Of the
Brit0us ages ago.
All through the long hours Of that
great day Of slaughter the watcher on
the hilI-liko anotheE Moses looking
down upon the stre Of Israel and
Amalek never witblraws his eyes from
the whiH Of swaying helmets and
shifting axes, nor slackous bis heart
wung prayers to the god Of battles for
the success OF his struggling country
mon. And at last, as the sun begins to
slant toward the west, his prayers seem
10 be heard. The fierce sea-kinQs
fight as sayaeely a. the wolves
OF their native forests, but even they
are no match for men fighting to
aycnge burned homes and slaughtered
children. Hark to the baitle-cry Of
KING Ethclwof "a he hews his way
through the press Onward, my chill
drcn Our Captain, Christ, is stronger
than they 3" And now his son, Prince
Ethelba,d-a son worthy of such a
fathcr-ialls with all his strength upon
the Danish flank. and the "slayers of all
men are siam III their turn. B@gsHg
is down and casping out his life amid
the cOrpses Of his comrades. Fierce
Sigtryg falls across him like fellcd oak,
with the point of Saxon spear standing
ont haudbreadth behind his back.
Hakon. the ticrcest Of all, plucks a iave-
lin from his bleeding flesh and strikes
down with it one more foe ere he falls
himself 10 rise no more. And now the
Danish standard-bearer rolls on the
earth, eleven to the teeth through steel
cap and skull aud rs EtLclbald's hand
clutches the sacred flag, the Danes give
way with o howl of rage aud anguish
that j, heard above all the din of battle,
aud fly on every side. Then, says
the pious oh Saxon chronicier, with "a
hcart.ness of grim eXultatlon more
worthy Of the warrior that he once was
than of the monk that he has become,
"by the mercy of God, the heather
were slain with an exceeding great
slaughter 80
But if the Dorking burned by the
Danes resembled that which arose upon
its ruins IN the time of Alfred the
Great, Jarl Hakon and his red-bearded
raiders, instead of being regarded as
enemies, might fairly have claimed the
thanks of the municipality for removing
a public nuisance. What an English
market town # "the good old times
was really like. and what it continued te
be for centuries later, may be gathered
from the graphic description given of
Dorking Ly q keen observer in the reign
of Henry VI: "Ihe freeholdors and
the copyholdcrs, says Worthy Master
Rogers. i'm his curious History
of Prices" "have each their rude
flrm-houses, manly built in tim
her frames and latncd and plastered IN
and out. Except on the ceiling, where
hangs tile b3con-rack,l and garnlshed
with sickics and bi'l-hooks Low benches
with chests under them run ali around
the walls, while in winter the busy farm
err sits under the great ch,mney-where
the wood for his tools Ia, been drying
and shapes his forks and rakes against
lis summer iabors The cottages Of the
laborcrs. each with its little garden
patch. are built upon the bare earth
with upright posts waited with willow
or haze rods and smeared outside and
inside with clay or mortar Half
way up is rude floor made OF
uuhewed poles and reached by
"a ladder. The whole is matched
with straw, reeds, or broom. Sometimes
the hut is wholly made OF mud or clay,
kncadcd with little straw and q lev
sticks % give it adhesion, and carefully
matched 10 keep tine wet from the walls.
Close 10 the cottage or farmhouse IS the
dung-hcap, streams from which in rainy
weather pom down to fertilize the lower
meadows" This last feature, Ill truth,
seems To- have been in former times the
leading characteristic of every English
village. which usually announced itself
10 the sense Of smell long before it was
discoycraLle 10y the sense of sight. Many
a uckless wayfarer, holding his nose
nphtlya he nearcd one OF these " charm
ing harulets." must have realized TO his
cost. even before the discovery Of Ameri-
en-, the great national truth that 100
scents make a d0'or."
In this, then, or in some similar form,
the medieval Dorking grew up amid the
ruins OF the ancient Ihuuocking, ike
that Objectionable phnnix who has been
periodically "nsing from bis ashes -
ever since old Herodotus first introduced
him 10 the notice of an enlightened
lonian public more than 1000 years ago.
IL was already thriving and populous
place when there came pouring INTO 1t,
one black autumn evening IN 1866, q
raable of Saxon fugitiyes, haggard,
wounded. covered with dust and blood,
and 50 spent that they bad hardly
strength to grasp the weapons
which they had welded IN vain. In
ho1